Clocks · Wall clock
Wall clock by Petter Ernst, Sweden, 1700s
- Maker / attribution
- Petter Ernst (maker)
- Date
- 1700s
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- Sweden
- Place
- Sweden, Stockholm
- Object type
- Wall clock
- Materials / technique
- taulun kehä, metal, brass, pyörät, wood, lyötteet, bronze
- Dimensions
- height: 22.5 cm; width: 22.5 cm; depth: 11 cm; diameter, dial: 16 cm; length, heilurin varsi: 44.5 cm; width, taulun kehä: 3.6 cm; diameter, heiluri: 8 cm
- Holding institution
- Suomen kansallismuseo
- Accession / object no.
- H75062:34
- Credit line
- Suomen kansallismuseo (via Finna)
- Catalogue title (original)
- kello; seinäkello (Finnish)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Suomen kansallismuseo (object number H75062:34), this is a wall clock by Petter Ernst, made in Sweden, Stockholm, dated 1700s. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: taulun kehä, metal, brass, pyörät, wood, lyötteet, bronze. Recorded dimensions: height: 22.5 cm; width: 22.5 cm; depth: 11 cm; diameter, dial: 16 cm; length, heilurin varsi: 44.5 cm; width, taulun kehä: 3.6 cm; diameter, heiluri: 8 cm. The record is illustrated with 1 photograph.
Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.
Catalogue description
Description — Suomen kansallismuseo
fyysinen kuvaus: Nelikulmainen kotelo puuta, maalattu vihertävän ruskean kirjavaksi, alla sinivihreä väri. Sivuilla suorakaiteiset lasiruudut, joista näkyy koneisto. Päällä ollut leikkauskoriste rikki, osia puuttuu. Kellotaulu pyöreä, keskeltä valkoiseksi maalattu, messinkikehä 3,6 cm leveä, vihreät, numerot I-XII mustat, niiden välissä liljat. Ulommaisena numerot 5-60. Alareunassa signeeraus: Ernst Stockholm. Kellotaulun metallinen taustalevy maalattu sinivihreäksi, kulmissa kullatut pronssilyötteet, joissa pää- ja lävistekiemurakoristelua. Koneistosta riippuu n. 44,5 cm pitkässä varressa heiluri jonka halk. 8 cm, sekä kaksi puista pyörää. Huonokuntoinen.
Shown in the original language of the source catalogue. An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.
Inscriptions & marks
signeeraus: Ernst Stockholm, kellotaulun alareunassa
Historical context
Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
Huygens' pendulum and balance spring transform accuracy; English makers develop the anchor and deadbeat escapements.
Huygens's pendulum (1656–57) improved clock accuracy from about a quarter of an hour to under a minute a day. The anchor escapement (c. 1670) and the long seconds pendulum created the longcase clock; London makers such as Fromanteel, Knibb, Tompion and Quare led European clockmaking, and French makers created the Boulle pendule.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Renaissance Horology
Atlas type guide
Regulators, wall and Vienna clocks
A regulator is a precision pendulum clock used as a time standard in observatories, workshops and railway offices. Typical features are a deadbeat or Graham escapement, a temperature-compensated pendulum (mercury jar, gridiron or later invar), maintaining power and a regulator dial that separates hours, minutes and seconds. George Graham's deadbeat escapement (c. 1715) and his mercury pendulum, together with Harrison's gridiron, set the pattern for two centuries.
Wall clocks span a much wider range: the elegant Viennese Laterndluhr and Dachluhr of the Biedermeier period, the Dutch stoelklok and staartklok, English 'dial' clocks used in schools, offices and railway stations, and mass-produced spring and weight wall clocks from Germany (Gustav Becker, Junghans, Kienzle) and America.
What to look for
- Deadbeat escapement and compensated pendulum (gridiron rods, mercury jar or wood rod).
- A regulator dial with a large central minute hand and separate hour and seconds dials.
- Vienna regulators: glazed cases, slender pendulum, small weights, enamel two-piece dials.
- German factory trademarks stamped on the backplate (e.g. Gustav Becker anchor and crown, Junghans star).
Dating clues
- Graham-type deadbeat regulators: from c. 1720.
- Viennese Laterndluhr: c. 1800–1850.
- German factory 'Vienna-style' regulators: c. 1870–1930; Gustav Becker serial numbers allow close dating.
General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.
Read next:Deadbeat escapementAnchor (recoil) escapementGrasshopper escapement
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